The Impact of Regional Support on Growth and Convergence in the European Union

regional, growth, convergence, European Union

Productivity, R&D spillovers and trade

That innovation and diffusion of technology drives long run productivity growth is by now commonly accepted. The crucial question is how. For instance, what is the role of own R&D in the firm, industry or country, as opposed to R&D done elsewhere? Is the former a precondition for rapid productivity growth, or is it possible to prosper by exclusively relying on imported technology? These are questions of high theoretical and practical importance. But the answers are not so clear yet. In fact, as we will show in the next section, the existing evidence points in very different directions. Can this conflicting evidence be reconciled to give a consistent picture? This is the question we address in this paper. We do this in two steps. First, we consider the different theoretical approaches, the empirical relationships they entail, and the related evidence. Then we present a comprehensive data set, consisting of 1974 - 1992 annual data for 14 countries and 22 manufacturing industries, which we use to discriminate between some of the most popular arguments in this area, and to explore the reasons behind some of the conflicting evidence presented in the existing empirical literature. We discuss the findings and implications in the concluding section

The impact of regional support on growth and convergence in the European Union

The tendency towards regional convergence that characterised most of the member states of the European Union from the 1950s onwards came to an end around 1980. To the extent that there has been any tendency towards convergence since then, it has been at the country level, related to the catch up by the relatively poor Southern countries that joined the EU during the 1980s. Within countries, however, there has at best been a standstill. A particularly challenging question is to what extent regional support from the EU, designed to help catch-up by relatively poor regions, has had a real impact on this situation. The EU Structural Funds were reformed in 1989. The objective was to make the funds more effective in reducing the gap between advanced and less-advanced regions and strengthening economic and social cohesion in the European Community. Since 1989 the financial resources allocated to these funds have doubled in real terms. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that this reform may have succeeded in improving EU regional policy so that it becomes more effective in its aim, to generate growth in poorer regions and contribute to greater equality in productivity and income in Europe. However it needs to be emphasised that there also are diverging factors at play. For instance, the estimates obtained for the empirical growth model used in this paper suggest that growth in poorer regions is greatly hampered by an unfavourable industrial structure (dominated by agriculture) and lack of R&D. Hence, to get the maximum out of the support, this needs to be accompanied by policies that facilitate structural change and increase R&D capabilities in poorer regions. Such policies must necessarily be of a long-term nature

The impact of regional support on growth and convergence in the European Union

The tendency towards regional convergence that characterised most of the member states of the European Union from the 1950s onwards came to an end around 1980. To the extent that there has been any tendency towards convergence since then, it has been at the country level, related to the catch up by the relatively poor Southern countries that joined the EU during the 1980s. Within countries, however, there has at best been a standstill. A particularly challenging question is to what extent regional support from the EU, designed to help catch-up by relatively poor regions, has had a real impact on this situation. The EU Structural Funds were reformed in 1989. The objective was to make the funds more effective in reducing the gap between advanced and less-advanced regions and strengthening economic and social cohesion in the European Community. Since 1989 the financial resources allocated to these funds have doubled in real terms. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that this reform may have succeeded in improving EU regional policy so that it becomes more effective in its aim, to generate growth in poorer regions and contribute to greater equality in productivity and income in Europe. However it needs to be emphasised that there also are diverging factors at play. For instance, the estimates obtained for the empirical growth model used in this paper suggest that growth in poorer regions is greatly hampered by an unfavourable industrial structure (dominated by agriculture) and lack of R&D. Hence, to get the maximum out of the support, this needs to be accompanied by policies that facilitate structural change and increase R&D capabilities in poorer regions. Such policies must necessarily be of a long-term nature

Living with diabetes - development of learning patterns over a 3-year period

Background: Learning involves acquiring new knowledge and skills, and changing our ways of thinking, acting, and feeling. Learning in relation to living with diabetes is a lifelong process where there is limited knowledge of how it is experienced and established over time. It was considered important to explore how learning was developed over time for persons living with diabetes. Aim: The aim of the study was to identify patterns in learning when living with diabetes, from recently being diagnosed, and over a 3-year period. Materials and methods: A longitudinal qualitative descriptive design was used. Thirteen participants, with both type I and type II diabetes, were interviewed at three different occasions during a 3-year period. Qualitative content analysis was used in different steps in order to distinguish patterns. Findings: Five main patterns of learning were identified. Two of the patterns (I and II) were characterized by gradually becoming comfortable living with diabetes, whereas for one pattern (IV) living with diabetes became gradually more difficult. For pattern V living with diabetes was making only a limited impact on life, whereas for Pattern III there was a constant management of obstacles related to illness. The different patterns in the present study showed common and different ways of learning and using different learning strategies at different timespans. Conclusion: The present study showed that duration of illness is not of importance for how far a person has come in his own learning process. A person-centered care is needed to meet the different and changing needs of persons living with diabetes in relation to learning to live with a lifelong illness

Identification of Vascularised Carotid Plaques Using a Standardised and Reproducible Technique to Measure Ultrasound Contrast Uptake

ObjectivesContrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) has been used to assess the vascularisation of carotid plaques. Our aim was to develop and validate a standardised semi-automated method for CEUS examination of plaques, and test if the technique could be used to identify vulnerable plaques.MethodsStudy participants were a mixed population of symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects, selected if they had a plaque with height >2.5 mm and <10% acoustic shadowing. Participants received a bolus of ultrasound contrast agent and a 90-s cine-loop was captured. A Contrast Quantification Program (CQP) was developed and trained to identify extent of contrast uptake after motion correction and application of a noise reduction algorithm. The technique was validated by comparing CQP values with visual assessment of contrast uptake. CQP values were also compared with plaque echogenicity and history of clinical events.ResultsCQP values correlated with a visual, 5-scale classification of contrast uptake by two blinded, experienced sonographers. Repeated contrast injections showed high reproducibility. Participants with a history of ipsilateral stroke/TIA had significantly higher CQP values than asymptomatic participants.ConclusionWe present a reproducible, semi-automatic method to identify vascularisation of carotid plaques, which could be used in prospective studies to determine the clinical value of plaque vascularisation

A comprehensive comparison of RNA-Seq-based transcriptome analysis from reads to differential gene expression and cross-comparison with microarrays: a case study in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

RNA-seq, has recently become an attractive method of choice in the studies of transcriptomes, promising several advantages compared with microarrays. In this study, we sought to assess the contribution of the different analytical steps involved in the analysis of RNA-seq data generated with the Illumina platform, and to perform a cross-platform comparison based on the results obtained through Affymetrix microarray. As a case study for our work we, used the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain CEN.PK 113-7D, grown under two different conditions (batch and chemostat). Here, we asses the influence of genetic variation on the estimation of gene expression level using three different aligners for read-mapping (Gsnap, Stampy and TopHat) on S288c genome, the capabilities of five different statistical methods to detect differential gene expression (baySeq, Cuffdiff, DESeq, edgeR and NOISeq) and we explored the consistency between RNA-seq analysis using reference genome and de novo assembly approach. High reproducibility among biological replicates (correlation >= 0.99) and high consistency between the two platforms for analysis of gene expression levels (correlation >= 0.91) are reported. The results from differential gene expression identification derived from the different statistical methods, as well as their integrated analysis results based on gene ontology annotation are in good agreement. Overall, our study provides a useful and comprehensive comparison between the two platforms (RNA-seq and microrrays) for gene expression analysis and addresses the contribution of the different steps involved in the analysis of RNA-seq data

Improving technology transfer through national systems of innovation: climate relevant innovation-system builders (CRIBs)

The Technology Executive Committee (TEC) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recently convened a workshop seeking to understand how strengthening national systems of innovation (NSIs) might help to foster the transfer of climate technologies to developing countries. This article reviews insights from the literatures on Innovation Studies and Socio-Technical Transitions to demonstrate why this focus on fostering innovation systems has potential to be more transformative as an international policy mechanism for climate technology transfer than anything the UNFCCC has considered to date. Based on insights from empirical research, the article also articulates how the existing architecture of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism could be usefully extended by supporting the establishment of CRIBs (climate relevant innovation-system builders) in developing countries – key institutions focused on nurturing the climate-relevant innovation systems and building technological capabilities that form the bedrock of transformative, climate-compatible technological change and development

Prediction of knot size in uneven-sized Norway spruce stands in Sweden

The size of knots is negatively correlated with bending strength in sawn timber and it is therefore used as a quality grading criterion in national roundwood grading standards. Some standards even use the size of the largest knot as the sole estimate for individual log knottiness. The size of knots is determined by crown horizontal extension, which in turn is dependent on the impact of competing trees. Thus, with knot size models that are competition-dependent, roundwood quality due to knottiness can be simulated for different management alternatives. However, these types of models, calibrated on uneven-sized Norway spruce in Fennoscandia, are currently not available. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a competition-dependent model framework for prediction of the largest knot size per stem height section, for application within uneven-sized Norway spruce stands. Data from terrestrial laser scanning of an uneven-sized stand in southern Sweden are used to calibrate a modular prediction framework, consisting of interlinked allometric statistical models. Alternative framework sub-models are presented and the preferred model combination can be selected according to context and available input data. The flexible modular format enables further development of separate sub-components for adaptation to growing conditions not covered by the current calibration range